Exodus 9: 27: And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said
unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my
people are wicked. 28: Intreat
the LORD (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty
thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. 29: And Moses said unto him, As soon
as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and
the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest
know how that the earth is the LORD’S. 30: But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet
fear the LORD God. 31: And the
flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the
flax was bolled. 32: But
the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up. 33: And Moses went out of the city
from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD: and the thunders and
hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. 34: And when Pharaoh saw that the rain
and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his
heart, he and his servants. 35: And
the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel
go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses.

Again, we
see Pharaoh falsely repent—he confessed, “I
have sinned this time”; he confessed “the
LORD is righteous, and I and my
people are wicked.”; he called
on God’s intercessor to “entreat the LORD”
on his behalf.

Yet,
again it is only fleshly repentance. Many confess these very things who put on
a show of outward repentance but it is repentance to be repented of.

2 Corinthians 7:10: For godly sorrow worketh repentance
to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

But there
are several other things we can learn from this passage: confession,
possession, a lesson and faith. That
will be our subject and our outline.

CONFESSION

Exodus 9: 27: And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said
unto them,…the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.

This will
be the confession that every unbelieving rebel will make in the day of judgement. You can mark it down. All who would not
confess God’s righteousness in their salvation
will be forced from their own mouths to confess God’s righteousness in their condemnation.

Philippians 2: 9:
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name: 10: That at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things
in earth, and things under the earth; 11: And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

For you
do not believe on Christ, you can be assured of this, you will bow to Christ in
this life and praise God for his grace or you will bow to Christ in judgment
then be cast our forever.

Ezekiel 33:11: Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord
GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn
from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye
die, O house of Israel?

Psalm 2: 12: Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye
perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are
all they that put their trust in him.

POSSESSION

Exodus 9: 29: And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city,
I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall
cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the
earth is the LORD’S…33:
And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto
the LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon
the earth.

Here is
the possessor and his possession, “the earth is the LORD’s.” No matter how big men and their empires may
become remember:

Psalm 24:1: The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness
thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

Many
people in our day are so worried that the fat-cats at the top have rigged the capitalism
system for their own greedy gain. That may be true. But the earth is still the
LORD’s.

This is
the believer’s comfort! When God
commanded the children of Israel to enter the promised-land and face those
mighty enemies, God strengthened the heart of every believer with these words:

Deuteronomy 10:14: Behold, the heaven and the heaven of
heavens is the LORD’S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

Since
that is the case, God says to you and me who believe:

Deuteronomy 10 12: And now, Israel, what doth the LORD
thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways,
and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all
thy soul, 13: To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I
command thee this day for thy good?...17:
For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a
mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: 18: He doth execute the judgment of
the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and
raiment. 19: Love ye therefore
the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Did the
devil and every enemy stop Christ from redeeming us and clothing us in his
righteousness? Then do not fear—they will not stop him from giving us food and
raiment.

Psalm 50: 10:
For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a
thousand hills. 11: I know all
the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. 12: If I were hungry, I would not tell
thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

Believer,
we never have to stoop to the sinful tactics this world uses to provide for
ourselves and our love ones in need. God owns all things and God will take care
of us. Fear God and obey him rather than men.

A LESSON

Exodus
9: 30:
But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD
God. 31: And the flax and the
barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was
bolled. 32: But the wheat and
the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up. 33: And Moses went
out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD:

Does it
seem to you that verses 31-32 are out of place in this passage? Verses 31-32 give
us an earthly illustration of heavenly things like the parable of the wheat and
the tares.

By our
first birth in sin, we are like the flax and the barley—“for the barley was in
the ear and the flax was
bolled.” The barley stood tall with
full ears and the flax budded. By nature
pride rules the heart of man so that we stand tall and budding in our
self-righteousness against God, against his Christ, against his gospel and
against his people. All who meet God in that condition shall be smitten down like
Pharaoh was.

But
sinners born again of God are like the wheat and the rie—“for they were not
grown up.” The wheat and the rie
were little tender plants that had just poked out from the ground. By God giving his child a broken and contrite
heart he makes his child a little tender plant, low at Christ’s feet. The
margin says, “they were hidden.” All God’s elect have been hidden in Christ from
before the foundation of the world. We
were hidden in Christ when he bore the wrath of God in our place. Since Christ has already been smitten in
judgment on our behalf, since we are hidden in Christ, for his sake who
justified us, God will not smite his broken and contrite people.

FAITH

Exodus 9: 34: And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the
thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his
servants. 35: And the heart of
Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the
LORD had spoken by Moses.

We see
what faith is not. Sinner, if you heard
God was sending hail then you saw hail—bigger than you had ever seen—falling with
fire from heaven; then if you asked a man to pray to God to make it stop and that
man did so and immediately you saw it stopped, would you believe God? You would
not—“And when Pharaoh saw that the rain
and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his
heart, he and his servants.”

“Seeing
is not believing.” Seeing is not faith. People think seeing is evidence. If they have evidence then
they will believe. No. Seeing is not faith; seeing is not believing. Faith is itself is the evidence.

Hebrews 11: 1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith has
all confidence in Christ. The proof we
behold is Christ. The reason faith is the substance and the evidence is because
faith believes on Christ our Solid Rock. We see in Christ one who satisfied and
honored God’s holy law for his people. We see a living Redeemer ruling and
reigning for our good. By faith we know that
Christ is more substantial and lasting than the things you see. Therefore, we
who believe on Christ are settled on an immoveable foundation.

2 Corinthians 4: 18: While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are
seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
5: 1: For we know [by faith] that if our earthly house of this
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens.

Scripture
speaks of “heavens” plural—the 1st is the atmosphere in which we
live; the 2nd is where scripture speaks of the moon and Arcturus,
Orion, Pleiades, and other starry hosts dwell. But scripture speaks of a “third
heaven” where God dwells. Christ is the Door into the third heaven. Only those
who believe on Christ can enter.

The
apostle Paul is the only believer who has seen the third heaven with the
natural eye and lived to tell about it. No other believer on this earth has
seen it with our eyes. But faith
believes the word of God that before God made the heavens and the earth there
was eternal God. And when God has
fulfilled his purpose in saving his people for his glory—when this tiny blip
called time is over—again there will only be eternal God, along with Christ and
all those he saved by his grace.

Faith
says what other evidence could we possibly need than the word of God himself? It is why Old Testament saints spoke of
Christ’s work of redemption already accomplished in their day. It is why we speak
of heaven, and glory, and everlasting salvation as a present reality. Faith
gives the believer a possession of things right now.

John 6:47: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth
on me hath everlasting life.

When you
believe God you have all the evidence you need! God help us all to do so now! Amen!